As Told By Us
by twinkles77
Summary: We all know James, Lily, and many more loved ones were always watching over Harry from above. They've got a thing or two to say about what he got up to.


**Summary: We all know James, Lily, and many more loved ones were always watching over Harry from above. They've got a thing or two to say about what he got up to.**

 **Please note: I do ask for some imagination and open-mindedness so you can enjoy reading this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it. I don't know what things look like after death or how they work, and I have absolutely no intention of insulting any religion or beliefs. Also, J.K. Rowling owns everything you recognize. Without further ado...**

CHAPTER 1: If I Saw You in Heaven

James Potter had charged at his own death more like a raging bull than a stag, running at Voldemort wandless out of sheer desperation, but he couldn't stop a single tear from rolling down his long nose when Lily appeared next to him. Compared to his relative quietude, she was going out of her mind (metaphorically speaking, of course). In truth, they were no more than decaying particles on Earth, but this place afforded her the luxury of clutching the soft white T-shirt he had gone to bed in, and him just enough consciousness to physically stagger under the weight of their mutual pain.

"I'm sor- I'm so sorry," she sobbed into his chest, her dark red hair completely obscuring her face so James couldn't look into the beautiful green eyes he loved so well. He tried to hush her, but she trembled in his arms with such bitterness that there was nothing for it except to whisper soothingly and wait for it to subside. All their lives, she had been the cleverer one (though James would never admit it out loud), often the _only_ one with a solution in a crisis, and he had never seen her break down like this. If they were still living, he supposed he would have been bewildered, but he was still trying to get used to the fact of their death moments ago.

"I couldn't save him," she whispered to him when she could speak, unable to meet his eyes. "Our baby. I'm so sorry."

"I couldn't save you two, either," James replied back softly, another tear falling as he pushed her hair back. "I didn't even have my wand. I can't believe I was so careless."

"I can," Lily said, her voice a little stronger this time, and James's hopes rose, delighting in the shadow of the snarky tone he had rarely heard since their Hogwarts days. He would have welcomed any insult she threw at him, but instead her lower lip quivered dangerously again. "That's why you were the first line of defense, and I was the last resort!"

Lily cried harder than ever, and James could do nothing but hold her tighter as he considered her words. Only he knew that he was not, and had never been meant to be, the first line of defense. It was Peter...Peter, who had been made Secret-Keeper with the utmost caution to throw Voldemort off the scent...Peter, who could either have died fighting for them or sold the Potter family out in minutes, and James would never rest until he knew which one….

Lily kissed his cheek and put her arms around his neck, still hiccuping, and his thoughts turned back to her. Why hadn't he told his wife, why? James had had an answer then, but it was utterly lost to him now. He knew he would have to tell her everything eventually, but he still couldn't put into words the full extent of the atrocity that he was increasingly suspicious had brought about their demise. It was simply _unbelievable_ that Peter had betrayed them. James, his wife, and soon his one-year-old child could not be dead because of one of their best friends.

"We should wait for him here, right?" Lily sniffed, letting go of him after a while. "Where I found you?" James knew she was talking about Harry, and nodded silently. Any moment now, the most innocent of beings would suffer the ultimate consequence of this war, and James would be able to scoop their little Pronglet up in his arms again. The thought both elated him and shattered every hope he and Lily had cherished for their son. She stood a little ways away from him now, like a silent sentinel. He knew they were both bracing themselves for the same thing.

Would he be screaming, terrified at what had happened to his Mummy and Daddy? Or would he simply giggle and laugh at the pretty green light before it brought him here to meet them? Dear God, Lily hoped Harry would only see Voldemort's wand and not the face behind it that had caused her a thousand nightmares. She had desperately wanted her own face to be the last one her boy saw.

Time was doing something very funny in this strange place they were in, seeming to pass but standing still too. They were waiting, cringing, expecting to hear their baby's shouts at any moment, but the moment never came. Instead, what sounded like an entire Quidditch stadium erupted into cheers in the distance. James and Lily looked at each other nervously.

"Er...d'you know what's going on?" Lily asked uncertainly.

"I got here barely two minutes before you did, love. I haven't had my briefing yet."

"Oh." Lily looked crestfallen. "Well, why'd they send you to come and get me, then?"

"Nobody sent me to do anything!" James retorted indignantly. "I've only just died!"

Lily could sense a breakdown coming on. "Oh no. James, okay -"

"Don't you see what this means?! Dead! We're DEAD!" Lily rushed back to him, taking his face into her hands, but her husband wasn't having it. "And those people over there are _cheering!_ I wasn't _that_ bad, was I?" He asked her beseechingly.

"You were the best part of my life, James," Lily said soothingly, drawing closer and kissing him on the chin. "I don't care what any of those other people are doing." Reluctantly, James let her kiss him on the lips.

"I'm…" he started, but the thought seemed too selfish to continue. "I wish…"

"I know." Tears were threatening to well up in Lily's eyes once more.

"I don't know what to do," James confessed ashamedly when they broke apart again.

"Go towards the light?" Lily suggested helpfully.

"That's _when_ we're dying, love. We're already here now."

"Where _is_ here, exactly?" Lily asked, glancing at their surroundings curiously.

For the first time, James did the same. Then his face split into his usual charming grin, and Lily silently thanked the death authorities that at least that one small pleasure hadn't been taken from her.

"Don't you recognize it?" James prodded her.

She looked again. They were in some sort of garden, flooded with ethereal light which was somehow making James's eyes dance even brighter than they ever had in life. There was grass as far as she could see, and sunflowers (her favorite) burst into bloom at her feet. "This is where we got married," she said in awe.

James nodded. "Godric's Garden. My, the grass really is greener on the other side. 'Other side', get it, Lil?"

She didn't know how, but she giggled. "Honey! I'm impressed!" She told him, smiling. "I thought we'd be dead for ages before your ego could start to make jokes about it."

"Yeah, well, there's only one thing making this bearable for me right now," he responded more somberly. They were walking along hand in hand, going nowhere in particular, but the feeling of grass tickling their bare feet was comforting to them.

"What?"  
"I know I'm in heaven because you still laugh at all the stupid shit I say."

Lily smiled wistfully at him, knowing he was every bit as conflicted as she was, but she understood what he wanted to say. With baby Harry horribly unprotected and alone, Lily ought not to be here at all, but he couldn't help being joyful that not even death had come between them. "I love you," she replied simply.

No sooner had she said it than they reached what they could only assume was the doorstep of the next world. Directly in front of them was the altar under which they had gotten married, a white arch decorated with vibrant bougainvilleas. To the right, on James's side, was a broomstick hovering in midair just outside what they instantly recognized as Gryffindor's Quidditch changing room. To the left, more sunflowers sprang up before their very eyes, marking a path that led into the approaching mist and out of sight.

James knew he had to let go of her hand, and he did.

"I think we get to choose," he said gently.

Lily understood instinctively. They could enter the afterlife together, but they could also choose their separate paths to see what was in store for them individually. She hesitated for so long that James sat down upon the ground and gazed up at her expectantly, waiting for her to speak. With a long sigh, Lily plopped down as well.

"You know I love you," she began.

"Yes…." James cocked an eyebrow.

"But, well...I don't suppose...there's any way to - you know - go back?"

"Back? What do you mean?"

"One of us has to be with Harry, James. We have to find him. I don't know why he's not here."

"Do you want to wait a bit longer? I can still hear the cheering. It's grown louder, if anything. We're not going to miss the party."

"I do want to wait, but just - ugh!" Lily exhaled again and pulled up a clump of grass. It replaced itself immediately. "I don't think we're going to know much of anything until we follow one of these paths."

"That's so stupid. I don't see why they didn't send an angel down to guide us," James complained. "Isn't the hard part supposed to be over now?"

Lily could think of nothing to say. The couple sat in dejected silence, desperate for the slightest crack in the serenity around them, but it still didn't come. Lily had always been morbidly curious about death, somewhat more than James, and she had so many questions. Would she be able to come back here if they chose their path wrongly? If she stayed here long enough, could she simply become a ghost and go back? If she moved on, would she ever set eyes on her son again? She had never handled not knowing very well during her lifetime, and she was no different in death.

At last she spoke again, picking her head up off James's shoulder.. "I refuse," she announced. "I'm not gonna kick the bucket. Nope. Not today."

"Er...I think we're past that point already, love," James responded cautiously. "Although I could be wrong," he added quickly upon seeing the look her face. "I could be totally mistaken."

" _Indeed_." Lily got to her feet and looked to the sky, or rather, into endless pearly nothingness. "Did you hear that?!" She shouted. "Thanks but no thanks! You can take me home now!" Not to James's surprise, nothing happened.

"Hey!" Lily yelled again, more tears suddenly spilling down her face. "OPEN THE - THE PORTAL! _DO YOUR THING AND TAKE ME BACK!"_

Her knees buckled under her as she dissolved into tears again, but James caught her as he got swiftly to his own feet. He struggled to think of something to say that would calm her, but he knew there was nothing. In all honesty, he didn't think he could fight his own curiosity for much longer. Harry was just a baby - he wasn't going to go to hell. And the whole reason Voldemort had come after them in the first place was to kill their child.

So where was their baby boy?

"We have to go on, darling," he murmured into Lily's hair. "It's the only way we can rest."

"How do we know it's going to be any better than staying right here?" Lily challenged him tearfully.

"How do we know it's not?"

"I don't care! I need to go back for Harry!" Beautiful, stubborn Lily. Not even death could take it out of her.

"I know." Boy, did he know. He struggled for a reply because he wanted nothing more himself. "But remember, Sirius is there for exactly this reason. And Dumbledore. And the Order. None of them are going to let anything happen to Harry."

"Do you think someone got there in time?" The mere idea lifted her spirits. "I didn't see anyone, but maybe - Peter, or somebody - got in and saved him, and that's why he's not here." Voicing the thought out loud brought her overwhelming relief, and she almost laughed. "James - _someone got there and saved our boy._ That has to be it."

James nodded patiently. "I really think we need to go on before we can find anything out for sure," he said, reminding her of her own previous assertion. "It feels like...I don't know...we're still in limbo here."

It was perfectly obvious what they had to do, and there had never been any question about the choice Lily would make. She looked towards the altar and reached for James's hand again. "Yes, I suppose you're right," she sighed. "Potter...I think I'm ready to take our relationship to the next level."

James faked surprise, pretending to jump with his hand over his mouth. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather go out with the giant squid, Evans? Won't he feel bad?"

Lily couldn't hold back a true belly laugh as she remembered her infamous fifth-year words. James was one of the few who could get that laugh out of her, and he never stopped trying, even when he was miserable himself. It had gone from a source of irritation in their childhood days to one of the qualities she admired most about him.

"But of course," she teased coyly as they stepped under the altar together. "If he turns up wherever we're going you'll have some pretty serious competition."

 **A/N: Well, there's chapter 1! I'm getting back into the fanfiction world after several years, so it might be a bit rusty, but it gets better. In the next chapter they find out the truth about what happens, and it'll cover Harry's childhood before 11. A total of 10, maybe 11 chapters are planned if people are interested. I'm keeping in mind that James and Lily were in their early 20's when they were killed, which is why this chapter might have been a bit more lighthearted than expected. They will meet many more characters once they "cross the threshold" (so to speak), and others will join them as the story progresses. Please review and let me know what you think!**


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